Writing research

As I pursue writing as a serious career, I'm learning something new about the craft each day, especially as the electronic medium snowballs.  One important lesson I've learned is to put as much research into your novel as possible.  That results in better cred for your work.  If you are setting your novel in Cairns, Australia, and have never been there, start researching.  Get Google maps.  Read the local newspapers on line.  Gather local information and historical data.  You may be writing fiction but if you want to create a town from your imagination, create it from scratch.  Don't call it Cairns or anyone who lives in Cairns or has visited Cairns, will laugh at you.  Same thing applies when you are describing a real car or a plane or a gun.  Don't just wing it.  Research it so that the platform for your work of fiction, will actually support it.